What happened to Cleopas’ divine perspective? Before we start criticizing Cleopas and his partner, let’s acknowledge a principle. When life is no longer “fantastic,” when our expectations crumble and dreams fade, it’s easy to slide into a funk. Circumstances become our taskmaster. People – especially those who took pan in causing our pain – stand taller than God. Our vision becomes earthbound, horizontal. Our prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling, and God seems far removed from our pain. Let’s face it: that’s a natural response we’re all guilty of choosing when our carefully constructed futures collapse under their own weight.

Let me point out that in the case of the two disillusioned disciples, God could not have been closer or more involved. But for reasons I’ll point out later. He prevented their seeing Him. Still speaking as an anonymous stranger, Jesus peeled away the first layer.

So he said to them, ‘You foolish people – how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Wasn’t it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things written about himself in all the scriptures (Luke 24:25-27).

Peeling back the first layer, He then exposed the second. Their own agenda determined their expectations. Cleopas wistfully added, “We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21).

As I said earlier, the people of Israel made the mistake of thinking the Messiah would merely recapture the glory days of King David and victoriously lead Israel to become a Jewish world empire. Throughout His ministry, Jesus combated this limited perspective and tried to help people appreciate the much grander designs He had for the world. But as long as someone clings to his or her own agenda, he or she will remain blinded to the reality that God is in the process of creating.

God had a new covenant in mind. The new would build upon the old in order to provide His people much more than temporal power and material wealth. The King of Israel will indeed liberate the nation, and He will indeed rule the whole world. But not before liberating all people from the bondage of sin and not before recreating the world anew, all the way down to its atoms. It would be a new kind of kingdom, one in which material abundance would come as a result of having a right relationship with God, not in spite of being estranged from Him. After all, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mat. 4:4).

Pause for a moment and consider a few questions: To what expectation are you clinging? What future have you determined for yourself? What perspective will you choose if your plans come unraveled or someone shatters your dreams?